Town administrator wants funds set aside for unexpected school expenses

NAHANT – Town Administrator Mark Cullinan will recommend increasing the town’s reserve fund by $115,000 in next year’s budget to help the school meet any unforeseen special-education expenses without requesting an override.”We’ll call it ‘Nahant’s Circuitbreaker,” he said, referencing the name of the state’s special-education fund that is allocated to towns. “It’s a little safety net. Hopefully that will defuse some of the anxiety of going through the year and worrying about unforeseen special-ed costs.”The town annually sets aside $75,000 in a reserve fund that is overseen by the advisory and finance committee and used for unforeseen expenses. The major budget shortfall last year was in the schools, where officials proposed a $260,000 override to fill a shortfall due to a reduction in state and federal money, coupled with an increase in special-education costs. The proposal created a division in town as Town Meeting approved the measure, but it was defeated by voters the same day.Voters at a second election soundly rejected the measure.Cullinan said that increasing the reserve fund – or creating another fund overseen by the finance committee if necessary – will help alleviate concern among both school officials and citizens.School officials will have a potential source of money to cover special-ed increases, Cullinan noted.But the money will have to be requested from the finance committee, so the request would be debated in an open public meeting.Selectman Mike Manning called it “an excellent mechanism. If there’s extra money at the end of the year, you could put it in a stabilization fund or other places,” Manning said. “You plan for an emergency, then if you haven’t run out of money, you can use it someplace else.”The money will likely come from the $462,000 the town has certified in free cash.Cyrus Moulton can be reached at [email protected]